[Age-related changes in the ependyma and epithelium of the vascular plexuses of the cerebral ventricles].

Using scanning electron microscopy, the author studied the ependyma and epithelium of the vascular plexuses of the cerebral ventricles in young and old Wistar rats. The old animals presented considerable morphological changes of these structures which were expressed in the polymorphism of the surface of the vascular plexus epithelial cells and the expansion of the contact zones between them. The age-related alterations of the ependyma were characterized by the loss of cilia in some cells and the formation of considerable areas free of cilia on the luminal surface of the ventricle. These alterations may be essential for the age-related disorders of various functions of these structures.